Only at MMS: what’s cool about our school

At Mountaineer Montessori, we’re proud of the many things that make us special. After nearly 40 years and 1,000 students, some pretty amazing things have happened here. Here are just a few:

1. At Mountaineer Montessori: Our students wrote their own school song in 2011. It will tell everything you need to know about our students, our school and our values. You can listen to it here.

2. Our school t-shirt has gone around the world to share the Montessori magic. Using the colorful “M” from our school sign, Mark Wolfe designed our nifty shirts, which became a fashion craze in Charleston when they were first introduced to MMS students in 2012 on the birthday of Maria Montessori, August 31. Since then, MMS families and friends (and even pets!) have proudly gotten their “M” on in West Virginia, throughout the U.S. and around the globe.

4. Community service is not an event, but a way of life at MMS. For nearly a decade, our students have donated food to and served our neighbors at Manna Meal and enjoy visiting our “Reading Buddies” at Piedmont Elementary each week.

5. Our students participated in a “Race for Education” and other events to raise the money for, and then helped design, our beautiful outdoor playground.

6. In 2010, four out of the eight National Merit Scholars and the senior class president at George Washington High School were MMS alumni. In 2013, four of GW National Merit Semi-Finalists got their start at MMS!

7. Touched by a presentation on the Hawks Nest disaster in 2011, advanced students created and sold art about the tragedy at a silent auction held during Downtown ArtWalk in April, 2011. The $7,500 raised was donated to an educational program that will accompany a documentary on the incident being produced by David Pushkin, now a member of the MMS faculty.

8. We have a menagerie of amazing animal friends, including a bearded dragon named Hector, who live and/or are frequent guests at our school!

11. Our primary students collaborated on the plot for “Missing: Mrs. Cornblossom,” a children’s book by Colleen Anderson, a frequent MMS artist-in-residence. The story is set in the historic Arlington Court row house complex in Charleston’s East End neighborhood.

12. MMS was the 2011 State Chess Champion for grades K-5! Individual honors went to three MMS students.

13. We donated nearly $6,000 from a one-day collection event to victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.